A senior Muslim cleric was detained on suspicion of inciting “terrorism” after he mourned slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque, his lawyer has told AFP.

Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, 85, the former grand mufti of Jerusalem and current head of its Supreme Islamic Council, called Haniyeh a “martyr” in his sermon at the mosque in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the lawyer said.

“[Sabri] is currently in Al-Maskobiya [police compound] under investigation on suspicion of inciting terrorism, because he mourned Ismail Haniyeh during the Friday sermon and described him as a martyr,” his lawyer Hamza Qatina said.

Israeli police, without naming Sabri, said they had “opened an investigation into an imam suspected of making inciting statements and supporting terrorism during a sermon given [on Friday]”.